Poroshenko asks Kazakh president to act as mediator in Donbass conflict settlement

ASTANA, July 1. /TASS/. Ukraine’s President Pyotr Poroshenko has asked his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev to play a mediation role in settling the crisis in Ukraine’s southeast, the press service of the Kazakh head of state said on Friday after a telephone conversation between the two leaders.

"The two heads of state exchanged views on the current situation in southeastern Ukraine. Poroshenko asked Nazarbayev to continue his mediating activities in settling the crisis," the press service said, adding that the conversation was initiated by the Ukrainian side.

Poroshenko’s press service however said nothing about this request.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarvayev has earlier expressed his readiness to act a go-between in the conflict. At the same time, he voiced criticism of Kiev position as hindering the conflict settlement. Thus in an interview with France’s Le Figaro in October 2015, he reminded that the law on the special status of certain district in Donbass passed by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) was failing to come into force while President Poroshenko was rejecting direct dialogue with representatives of the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk.